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HTH GSE UnBoxed Issue 14 field notes

When Exhibition
Might Not Be Enough

Wesley Davidson
Chicago Tech Academy High School

On the day of our second school-wide exhibition

last year, a students words nearly broke my
heart. I heard them secondhand and I am glad I
did or they might have done even worse damage.
Will you call home and tell my mom that Ive
been suspended so that she will come to my
exhibition? The tactic, by the way, did not work.
No one lied to a parent in order to deceive her
into celebrating her sons work. The parent didnt
arrive unannounced. He still had a great
exhibition, but was it enough?
My instinct was to place the educational value on
the exhibition and to dread how other factors
negatively impact particular students. I realize,
however, that I was missing a key component.
Yes, exhibition matters. Getting students to own
their work and to rise to the challenge of explaining the process to an unexpected visitor can
transform the learning experience and make the work more authentic. Having a specific
audience in mind (particularly one encouraged to ask deeper questions about the work) also
raises the bar, motivating students to create a higher quality product. Placing all the credit on a
one-day exhibition, however, misses some key takeaways and learning opportunities.
A Purpose for Learning
For that same student and others, simply showing off the work had its purpose, yes, but it was
extremely short-lived. The purpose was just to show off the work. Getting that work published
(as they did with this particular narrative assignment) lasted a little longer but also would soon
be stripped of its novelty.
My own emphasis on displaying the work led to lulls in productivity and a lack of ownership of
students learning. Kids would do their best work when they began to explore their ideas early on
and then again in the end when it was time to exhibit that work. In the spaces between, old
habits thrived. Work was done quickly and sometimes shoddily. Collaboration was minimal. In
those middle stages, the purpose was missing. No matter how much I thought they would look
forward to showing off the work, getting that work ready wasnt essential until the moment
seemed inevitably near.
In the midst of this same long-term narrative assignment, however, there were some glimpses of
real purpose. I think particularly of a student whose essay brought others to tears when she read
it out loud. She had put her best efforts into her work before this point, but her purpose was
simple: she wanted a good grade. Seeing how others responded to her work and seeing that it
then meant they all wanted her help in editing their own papers gave her a sense of purpose that
didnt exist until then. Despite being typically reserved and apt to work on her own rather than

Subscribe

Issue 14, Fall 2015

Thank You Tiger! My Teacher
Wake-Up Call,
John Paull
Breadth And Depth: Can We Have
It Both Ways?,
Jal Mehta
Other Peoples Children Are My
Children,
Michelle Sadrena Clark
When Exhibition Might Not Be
Enough,
Wesley Davidson
Choosing Sean,
Patrick Yurick
Writing Downtown: Bringing
Student Voice Into Writing
Instruction,
Sheldon C. Krieger
Creativity Is A Decision Anyone
Can Make,
Robert J. Sternberg
Every Classroom Should Be A
Maker Space,
Randy Scherer
Cards:
1: Colonies, Clusters, and
Classrooms?
2: Roland Barthes Mythologies
3: The Lantern Project
4: The Wicked Soap Company
5: Wat_er We Doing? A California
Drought Story
6: Portraits of Resilience
7: Best Project of All Time
8: 3D Printed Timeline
9: You Say You Want a
Revolution?
10: Superheroes Unite!
11: Staircases to Nowhere
12: Who Walks Here: The Journey
of Our People and Our Land
13: The Bee Project

NEWS & EVENTS

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in a group, she opened up to others and wanted to see how they could help her make her writing
piece even stronger and she delighted in explaining why she thought her essay might have been
so powerful in the first place. She went from simply telling her story to knowing that her story
mattered and could matter even more. It was inspiring the work of her peers, and that gave her
greater purpose. For that student, the audience gave her work meaning. Having someone there
to celebrate her work helped her reflect on the experience and to value her process.
A Sustained Audience
Imagine if all students had an audience like this to whom they could turn through the entire
process of a long-term project or course unit. My student whose mother couldnt be there to
celebrate his work would now have someone who was going to see his writing not just at the end
but as it developed; this audience would be invested in how the writing piece and its author were
transformed. The student who became an inspiration for others writing could push herself to
even greater heights with an expert author to turn to who made her see a process developed by
years of practice and critique.
It is this exact reason that led me to repeat this same narrative project this school year. I looked
back at the successes and the regrets of the first attempt at this project, and I wondered how
even small changes could develop a more sustained audience for students. I knew that students
often had a very limited audience and that this audience of onetheir teacherwas also in
charge of their grades. They were limited in how they took risks because of this, and they
subsequently limited the heights they might reach.
This school year, each student completing this project takes on two roles: first as a contributing
editor (or author) to the book we will publish and secondly as a member of a team preparing our
book for publication. By simply adding this structure, students became more accountable to one
another; there was always an audience for the work, and that audiences goals could shift. One
moment the focus would be on celebration and the next it was on critical feedback. In addition,
students know there is an outside audience in mind, and it fuels me as a teacher to seek those
opportunities to get them in touch (in person) with the type of audience members they need to
consider.
Never Forgetting Why
In the end, though, this work will be exhibited in much the same way. As I near the end of this
project, I have let worry seep in. I struggle with the anxiety that someone might have slipped
through the cracks of this process and will maybe come alive for a single-night exhibition but
wont have the same rich experience of learning.
What keeps me certain that this is less likely, however, is that Ive focused not just on purpose in
the beginning or audience in the middle, and I know that I wont be focused just on showing off
the work in the end. What has kept the whole process moving is the idea of purpose. Every step
of the way, my students and I have made sure that were asking the most important question:
why?
So far, this simple focus has served the learning well. I have my purpose behind assigning these
narratives, and I have another purpose for getting the book published. What Im finding, though,
is that my purpose pales in comparison to the multiple purposes the students find on their own.
By providing them with a structure for their work and in using an audience to drive the process,
this unit of class opened up an opportunity for students to determine the why behind each step
of the process. They began their narratives knowing why they wanted to dig deep into those
memories, but they did so in part because time was intentionally taken to question why these
narratives might matter. They continued to revise and were challenged by both peers and
outside experts (and discovered the opportunity to challenge all participants in our process), and
it was planned for us to take time to determine why we should share this work with others and
for what purpose. Now, as students make key decisions about which narratives will and will not
be published, the purpose changes.
An Educators Purpose
In the end, as an educator, I know that some purposes are important; I want to set high
expectations for students and prepare them for their future. That hasnt changed, but I realize
that it also meant that I oversimplified the roadblocks that got in the way. I was heartbroken
when my student wanted his mom to come to exhibition so badly he was willing to lie to her. My
mistake was that I (unintentionally) was just saddened by the circumstance when I should have
realized a more crucial mistake. I realize it now. The exhibition still mattered because that
student had a sense of purpose throughout the entire process. For other students, I hadnt
offered that same opportunity. I was the absent adult figure missing out on a chance to see how
they could shine.

As an educator, Ive learned better how to reach students. As with most things, the answer is
simple but the reflection can be hard to endure. Rather than focus on shortcomings, though, I
move forward with a new purpose and I look forward to every opportunity for students to seek
their own purpose in learning.